Cher
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Among the industry women named after Cher are actress Cher Bennett, make-up artist Cher Slater, publicist Cher Patric Cox, set dresser Cher Lafreniere, stuntwoman Cher Meier, production designer Cher Ledwith, production assistant Cher Jung and the fictional heroine of "Clueless".
"I'm insecure about everything, because ... I'm never going to look in the mirror and see this blond, blue-eyed girl. That is my idea of what I'd like to look like." --Cher quoted in Cosmopolitan, November 1990.
Biography
Cher is an Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning actress and singer. She first garnered attention as one half of the folk-pop duo Sonny & Cher. Their first single - 1965's "I Got You Babe, " rocketed to number one on the Billboard charts. She had later success as a solo artist in the 1980s and 1990s with pop hits like "If I Could Turn Back Time," "After All, and "Believe." Beginning in the 1980s, she segued into dramatic acting with success in films like "Silkwood" (1983), "Mask" (1985), and "Mermaids" (1990). Her performance in "Moonstruck" (1987) won her a Best Actress Oscar. She made her directing debut with a segment of the 1996 HBO abortion-themed anthology, "If These Walls Could Talk." In 2008, she inked a deal with Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to perform 200 live shows during the following three years, alternating nights with Bette Midler and Elton John. After another two-year performance residency from 2017-2018 in both Las Vegas and Washington state, she made her first screen appearance in eight years in 2018, when he played Meryl Streep's mother in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again." Her 26th studio album, "Dancing Queen," a collection of ABBA covers, was released in September, 2018.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Producer (Special)
Music (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Music (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1962
Ran away from home at age 16 and met Sonny Bono, who was working for record producer Phil Spector
1963
Worked as background vocalist for Spector recordings (of the Ronettes and the Crystals)
1964
Began performing with Bono as 'Caesar and Cleo'
1964
Recorded her first song, "Ringo, I Love You," under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason; produced by Phil Spector
1965
Changed name to 'Sonny and Cher'; reached Top Ten with the singles "Baby Don't Go" and "I Got You Babe"
1965
Made her ffilm acting debut in "Wild on the Beach"
1967
Played herself in William Friedkin's "Good Times"
1969
Debuted the Sonny and Cher nightclub act
1969
Acted the title role in "Chastity"; written by Sonny Bono
1971
Appeared on TV in "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" (CBS)
1975
Had solo TV series, "Cher" (CBS)
1976
After their divorce, re-teamed with Bono for "The Sonny and Cher Show" (CBS)
1981
Off-Broadway acting debut in "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"
1982
Reprised role of Cissy in movie version of "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"
1983
Played Meryl Streep's lesbian friend in Mike Nichols' "Silkwood"; earned first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1985
Formed film production company, Isis
1985
Played the mother of a severely disfigured boy (Eric Stoltz) in Peter Bogdanovich's "Mask"
1987
Won an Academy Award playing a frumpy bookkeeper in Norman Jewison's "Moonstruck"
1987
Teamed with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer for "The Witches of Eastwick"
1987
Returned to her recording career with the album <i>Cher</i>
1989
Released the album <i>Heart of Stone</i>, with the hit single "If I Could Turn Back Time"
1990
Made her last film for six years, "Mermaids"
1991
First exercise video released, "CherFitness: A New Attitude"
1994
Collaborated with MTV's cartoon "Beavis and Butt-head" for a rock version of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe"
1996
Returned to the big screen in the disappointing "Faithful"
1996
Made directing debut with a segment of HBO's "If These Walls Could Talk"; also starred in the segment she directed; earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1998
Paid tribute to Bono in the CBS special "Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers"; executive produced
1998
Published her first memoir, <i>The First Time</i>
1998
Released her 23rd studio album, <i>Believe</i>; the title song became the biggest hit of Cher's entire career
1999
Returned to films in the ensemble of Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea With Mussolini"
2002
Traveled with her "Living Proof: The Farewell Tour"; aired on NBC in 2003; and later in 2003 released the album <i>Live: The Farewell Tour</i>
2003
Had a cameo apperance in the Farrelly brothers comedy "Stuck on You"
2003
Earned a Grammy nomination for the song "Love One Another"
2008
Returned to performing at Las Vegas' Caesar's Palace, in the show titled "Cher at the Colosseum"
2010
Played a club's proprietor and headliner in "Burlesque"
2011
Nominated for the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture ("You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from "Burlesque")
2013
Released her 25th studio album <i>Closer to the Truth</i>
2014
Collaborated with Wu-Tang Clan on <i>Once Upon a Time in Shaolin</i>
2018
Appeared in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Promo
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Among the industry women named after Cher are actress Cher Bennett, make-up artist Cher Slater, publicist Cher Patric Cox, set dresser Cher Lafreniere, stuntwoman Cher Meier, production designer Cher Ledwith, production assistant Cher Jung and the fictional heroine of "Clueless".
"I'm insecure about everything, because ... I'm never going to look in the mirror and see this blond, blue-eyed girl. That is my idea of what I'd like to look like." --Cher quoted in Cosmopolitan, November 1990.
"When we design the costumes for her, it has nothing to do with fashion. It has nothing to do with anything but the fact that we are attempting to present to the world this ... creature in her own right" --Bob Mackie, quoted in Vanity Fair, November 1990.
According to her divorce settlement with Sonny Bono, Cher is entitled to 50 percent of the royalties from all the songs they wrote together --From Vanity Fair, November 1990.
On her "Infomercial Diva" phase: "My friend Laurie [her hairdresser since 'Mask'] wanted to have a business like Vidal Sassoon. I didn't know it would be seen that often. There weren't that many infomercials then. It's like serial killers--there used to be only a few." --Cher quoted in Daily News, June 12, 1996.
"Yeah. I absolutely care about it [aging] because in our society there's a penalty for getting older. If our society embraced everybody, young and old, then you wouldn't think about it for a second. But our society embraces the young, so when you start to get old, it's like, 'Am I worthless? What's happened to me?' I still feel pretty kick-ass. I'm pretty vital. I have my truck and my motorcycle." --Cher in People, July 1, 1996.
"The other day, my son Elijah shaved his eyebrows off and dyed the front part of his hair black. I said, 'You know, Elijah, that looks ridiculous. It's so unattractive.' He looked at me and said, 'I don't want to hear this from you. Do you realize how stupid this sounds coming from you?'"My sister said, 'Well, he's got you there.' And then my mother said, 'Yeah, he's got you there.' And my grandmother was there too." --Cher to Daily News, September 22, 1996.
About her worst experience on a movie set: "I guess Peter Bogdanovich [director of 'Mask'] was the worst. At the time, I was so unsure of myself, and he wasn't very nice. One day he said, 'Just remember, this movie isn't about the woman, it's about a boy. I can cut you out.' I thought, 'I'm going to take that information and just stash it, and get real, real tough.' And I did." --Cher in Rolling Stone, September 19, 1996.
"There's a saying among those who work around Cher. If there's a nuclear war, only two species will survive: the cockroaches and Cher." --From "Cher Resurrected, Again, by a Hit" by Neil Strauss in The New York Times, March 11, 1999.
On her album "Not Commercial", Cher told the Los Angeles Times (September 24, 2000): "It's very un-Cher like. But if people really knew me, it is very Cher. But it's so [expletive] dark. I have to put a sticker on it. I don't want kids buying it. I write like I speak--not exactly like a sailor, but colorful. ... "I don't have any expectations. I did it for myself, so I'm just sharing it with people who might be interested and don't really care what reviewers think. And if people like it, they like it, and if they don't, that's fine. It's so personal. But I've played it for people and they liked it. Maybe it hits other people's notes."
"If I'd been fucked by my husband as much as I was fucked by Warner Bros., I'd still be married." - Cher quoted in 1988 Premiere October 2, 2002
"If I'd had as much plastic surgery as people say, there'd be another whole person left over! I could send her out to work her butt off onstage every night."-Cher US Weekly November 4, 2002
